Why American Greetings Shares Soared

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of American Greetings , the well-known maker of greeting cards and other social expression products, jumped as much as 13% this morning after announcing an agreement to go private in an all-cash deal.

So what: American Greetings delivered the ultimate "thank you" card to investors by agreeing to be purchased for $18.20 per share by the Weiss family, which includes company Chairman Morry Weiss, CEO Zev Weiss, and President and COO Jeffrey Weiss, among other parties. Shareholders will also receive one final dividend payment of $0.15 per share before the deal closes, effectively netting them $18.35 per share, if the board of directors approves it.

Now what: I'm sure there are plenty of longtime investors in American Greetings who are gritting their teeth after this deal, but it really is a smart move for the company to remove itself from the public pedestal. Greeting-card sales have struggled with the proliferation of electronic and social forms of expression. While American Greetings has been making this transition to mobile forms of expression, its legacy business continues to suffer. With shareholders getting a moderate premium over the Thursday close, hopefully, once privately owned, American Greetings will finally "get well soon."

Craving more input? Start by adding American Greetings to your free and personalized Watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

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